


once upon a time, this place was beautiful and mine

by Bandtrees



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horrortale, Frisk and Sans are mentioned, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Death, Nonbinary Frisk, One Shot, basically the promise scene from toriel's pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 13:22:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7464987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandtrees/pseuds/Bandtrees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>but now it's just a bottom line.</p>
            </blockquote>





	once upon a time, this place was beautiful and mine

Toriel had done some unsavory things in her life, including but not limited to attempting to set children on fire. 

She just couldn't allow the poor humans to run out into the Underground, and sometimes it brought her to do bad things. 

It had gotten even worse after one human, the one with clean hair, a strong red SOUL, and a carefully stitched blue and pink striped shirt, had left the Underground and never came back. They had left a mark on the Underground, a feeling of hope and joy in their short journey.

And then they were gone.

Being practically a hermit in the RUINS, she hadn't been able to experience anything firsthand but she had heard stories, terrible terrible stories, about what the other monsters had turned into since that human's leave. Desperate bloodthirsty killers just dying to tear an unsuspecting human's SOUL apart.

She watched sadly as the most recent human, a tall little girl in a tattered blue dress, walked out the door to Snowdin Forest not looking back. Her purple SOUL was still showing from the battle she had just had with Toriel.

The goat monster desperately hoped she would get out alive, but she knew deep down it was a false hope.

Toriel watched her go and didn't tear her eyes away until the door closed behind the little girl and the telltale crunch of snow was out of her earsight.

She approached the door, shaking. She didn't want to bear the thought of another human meeting a gorey end. 

She cursed herself for being so weak. She should be used to this routine by now. Humans come. Humans leave. Humans die. But she couldn't stop herself from getting emotional. Maybe it was the fact she tried to be close to the humans, or maybe it was going from seeing a child happy stuffed with pie to their severed arm being slid under her door with the trademark awful laugh from the voice behind the door that used to be her only friend.

Maybe it was both.

She began pounding on the door, wishing desperately that the tall little girl in the tattered blue dress would return, so that she could save one human, just one, from their awful fate. 

She pounded her fists so hard the door shook. She pounded her fists so hard she could feel the bones in her paws crack. She let out a wordless shout, slamming her fists into the door.

And then she could hear that tall little girl in the tattered blue dress give a little knock on the door. The human cleared her throat, beginning to speak.

"Mom...?"

Toriel could feel herself tear up already.

"I- I have to go home." The human's voice was strained, as if she had already gone through hell and back in the few minutes she was gone.

She probably had, now that Toriel thought about it.

"...even if it kills me." She continued. Toriel kept pounding on the door, hearing her wrist break.

There was a silence, and the human sniffled as she finally spoke up again, voice cracking.

"I'm sorry, Toriel. I'm so, so sorry... I'm sorry for l-leaving-leaving you, and.." She sniffled loudly, and sounded like she was now openly crying.

"You gave me all you-" She was cut off by a hiccup. "All you had, and I... And I threw it away." There was another silence, the air quiet aside from Toriel's pounding on the door slowing and the human quietly weeping.

Toriel stopped hitting the door, pain coursing through her hand but ignoring it. She closed her eyes, leaning her forehead on the door. She stayed like that until the human sniffed and spoke up again.

"I- I-I... thank you. You're the one who... You're the brightest thing d-down here." 

After a minute of silence, Toriel could hear rustling from behind the door. Then the door opened a crack, the human peering through it at her mother figure. Her hands were clasped together in that way she always had them when focusing on something.

Toriel looked at the human out the corner of her eye, not moving her head. Her face was grim, sadly looking at the fallen girl.

"Child... If what you say is true..." She let out a trembling breath, looking up to face the girl. "Then let me do what is best for you."

She suddenly shoved her arm through the crack of the door, conjuring up one of her trademark fire attacks. The human shrieked and stumbled backwards, SOUL starting to shimmer in preparation for a potential battle.

The forest was lit up with the orange glow of the fire, but then dimmed as the fire vanished.

"No, what am I doing..?"

Toriel let her hand drop, shaking from the still pounding pain in her wrist. "I- I am so sorry... This is not who I am... This is not who I..."

The human shakily stood up, brushing the snow off her dress. 

"I and my friends, we have been... we have been trapped here so long, with so little, that we have forgotten who we are." Toriel could hear her heart breaking in two at the terrified look on the human's face.

"Yet, your words..." Toriel smiled sadly, looking at the human. "They remind me of another human that came through here long ago. Another human that found it in their heart not to fight or flee. And now, after everything I have done..."

She shook her head. "Oh, child..."

The human approached Toriel, a sad look in her dull brown eyes. Toriel placed her hand on the human's shoulder.

"I know that you cannot forgive me. I know that what I have committed is unforgivable. But please..." She sighed, watching the human's expression. "Please do not forget me. Tell me that you will save my friends and myself from this wretched place."

"None of us deserve what happened to us, or our home." She looked at the floor. "Please promise me you will save us."

The human said nothing.

"Promise me, will you not?" She looked back at the human.

The human hesitated and then nodded, avoiding eye contact with Toriel.

"Look me in the eyes when you say so." Toriel said, a bit of her toting motherly nature shining through.

She stared at the human, shaking. The human looked her in the eyes like she had requested, biting her lip when she saw how drained and desperate Toriel must have looked.

"Promise me I won't die here."

The human nodded.

"Ah..." Toriel smiled. "Thank you, child. You are good to think well of me despite what I have become." She shook her head, tightening her grip on the human's shoulder. 

"Now go. Quickly. Before I forget myself again." Toriel pulled her hand away, disappeared back into the RUINS and turning her back to the human.

The human mumbled a 'goodbye' before turning and leaving just like all the others before her.


End file.
